Snoqualmie Pass’s biggest natural hazard is wildfire
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Snoqualmie Pass comes from wildfires, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.
What stands out about Snoqualmie Pass’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
What Snoqualmie Pass faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Wildfire
Avalanches
Inland flooding
Does Snoqualmie Pass flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Snoqualmie Pass. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Snoqualmie Pass isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Kittitas County.How exposed is Snoqualmie Pass?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 99% of U.S. communities, mostly from wildfires and avalanches.
Rated higher than 631 of the 639 Washington towns we cover.
Snoqualmie Pass is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
1 federal disaster brought FEMA money to Snoqualmie Pass
Disasters that paid out in Snoqualmie Pass itself (aid to households or repair grants to Snoqualmie Pass) and its biggest flood years.
- 2009Severe Winter Storm, Landslides, Mudslides, and Flooding3 households applied for aid
Kittitas County has had 26 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and floods.
Old photos of Snoqualmie Pass after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Snoqualmie Pass archive →Get ready for what Snoqualmie Pass actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Clear dead leaves and brush within 5 feet of the house.
- Sign up for local alerts and know two ways out.
- Keep N95 masks for smoky days.
- Check the avalanche forecast before heading into the backcountry.
- Carry a beacon, probe and shovel, and know how to use them.
- Most avalanches are set off by the people caught in them.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
Most disasters here begin in November–January
The month each of Kittitas County’s 26 declared disasters began, since 1953.
What these numbers can and can’t tell you
- An average, not a forecast. FEMA’s National Risk Index estimates the damage 18 kinds of natural hazards cause in a typical year, from decades of records and models. A quiet decade can follow a bad year.
- Compared by rate. “Higher than N%” compares yearly damage as a share of what’s there, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings.
- Money that reached town. Flood claims are matched to Snoqualmie Pass’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Snoqualmie Pass.
- It follows property value. FEMA’s model weighs damage to buildings, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Snoqualmie Pass.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025); OpenFEMA: NFIP redacted claims, multiple-loss properties, community status book and residential penetration rates, housing assistance (owners and renters), public assistance funded projects, hazard mitigation properties and disaster declarations. Census tracts: U.S. Census Bureau. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. An average of past damage, not a forecast.